The Key of Destiny
by The Masked Butterfly
Summary: There's one thing teenagers dread more than anything, the end of summer vacation. With as weird as this summer has been, Roxas can't wait to go back to school and get things back to normal. Too bad the new kids have it in for him. Axel/Roxas.
1. Prologue

**_The Key of Destiny— _Prologue**

The air shifted slightly as the unconscious body of a man was consumed by a swirling mass of darkness. A second man with a blindfold covering his eyes looked over the scene, a look of content on his face. His long silver hair dripped with sweat, a Keyblade was clutched loosely in his right hand. The mad tore his eyes away from the body as a small blonde girl joined him, her voice was low as she spoke, "Are you sure this was a good idea? I mean there are other ways."

"It was what is necessary. He was using you to get what he wanted. Sure it was what we wanted, but now he's out of the way. We call the shots. If we let him continue, the Organization would be breathing down our backs. They already sent one, and in my opinion, he was incompetent, it won't be much longer until they send more, ones who are much more able…"

The blonde looked away from the sliver haired man and gazed upon the now empty floor. "He's been completely consumed," she whispered softly. "Hey where are you going?"

The man paused, halfway to the door. "We need to take over as soon as possible so he doesn't realize what's going on. You wanted to convince him that this is what he needs to do, so let's do it."

"I didn't mean—" the blonde started.

"I know, but all this planning is necessary; we need to keep the charade up. You wanted him to do this willingly therefore we need to convince him now. They have an agenda and don't care if he's alive or not. 'Eliminate the traitor' are the orders. We're here to make sure that doesn't happen."

She stared at him, shaking slightly, but nodded. "Alright, but be careful, I can't lose him again." Her eyes fell to the floor, eyes closed in a pain that she, as herself, would never feel.

The man slowly made his way back toward his female companion, reaching out to wrap his arms around her thin frame. "He loves him doesn't he?" he asked softly, compassion filling his words.

She nodded, still shaking. "Just because we're _their_ Nobodies doesn't mean we were meant to be. It is what it is I suppose." She said her next words slowly, choosing them carefully. "I am happy for him, even though circumstances logically should be different. Even without hearts you would think that there would be some attraction but as far as I can tell, its one sided." She sighed and added, "Whatever, it is what it is. Go on and do what it is you need to do. I can handle my own problems."

The man nodded, and left.

When his footsteps had faded away, the blonde face twisted into a cruel smirk. This was going to be easier than she thought.

Who knew that getting revenge would be so simple?

* * *

**That is the end of the Prologue. I think it should be pretty obvious who these two characters are, even if I didn't tell you there names. Starting in Chapter 1, the point of view is going to shift to Roxas, the main character. Please let me know what you think; anyone who can accurately guess who the two characters killed gets a preview of the first Chapter. **

**Much love, **

**The Masked Butterfly**


	2. Chapter 1: Summer's End

**So this is the first chapter of **_**The Key of Destiny. **_**I'm still looking for a beta if you're looking for something to do; if you want the job drop me a PM. If you would please include some basic info (or a link to your beta reader profile) and a list of the stories you have beta'd along with their authors. Thank you! **

**Disclaimer: If I had thought of Kingdom Hearts, then there would be no series; I don't have the connections to make an awesome videogame like that— or any videogame at all. **

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**Chapter 1: Summer's End**

Roxas rolled over, a hand reaching over to quiet the alarm clock that was buzzing on his nightstand. After a few moments of blissful silence, the blonde sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. It was the first day of school and he was looking forward to it. This summer had been so weird and he hoped that going back to a normal routine would be good for him.

Yes it had weird few months. First there were the odd dreams of the Sora kid; for whatever reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that the pair of them were connected. That of course was ridiculous, Roxas had never left Twilight Town and from what he could tell, this Sora had traveled all over the place. But then for all he knew, the brunette could have been a figment of his imagination, just a made up vision his made created to torment him.

After the dreams came the voices, and that one girl, Naminè and the redhead, Axel, who seemed to be convinced that they were best friends in the former life. They kept popping up and whenever they did, time seemed to stop. Then of course, there was that one time he felt as if he had fallen off the Central Station Clock Tower. Hayner had told him that nothing of the sort had happened and reassured the blonde that if he had fallen off, he wouldn't be around to know what had happened.

Roxas shook his head and stood from the bed; he needed to clear his head of these thoughts. Hoping a shower would help him do just that, Roxas grabbed clothes from his closet and headed for the bathroom.

Once he was clean and dressed for school, Roxas made his way downstairs, jumping the last few steps and made his way into the kitchen. Noting the time, he grabbed an apple from the counter before slinging his backpack over his shoulders. Roxas then wrenched the backdoor open and bounded down the steps, his spikey blonde hair springing up and down as he went. He placed a foot on his skateboard and pushed off with the other, maneuvering his way around the house.

* * *

"Yo Roxas!" a voice called.

The blonde looked up and saw his friends waiting on the sidewalk, grinning at him. Grinning, he skated over to them, stopping neatly. "Took you long enough," Hayner complained, crossing his arms across his chest.

He ignored his best friend, "So are you guys ready for the first day of school?" Roxas asked.

Hayner groaned. "Are you kidding me? School is so boring; I can't stand going to that place, it's useless and Seifer uses it as a place to pick a fight with us. I can't stand that guy." Hayner cracked his knuckles menacingly, as if here were about to fight Seifer on Roxas' front lawn.

"It's not_ that_ bad," Olette argued, rolling her eyes. She was always the voice of reason; without her, the three boys would have gotten themselves into a lot more trouble. "You just have to take the right classes."

"Because everyone here can do the advanced and honors courses like you," Hayner retorted dryly, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "No thanks, I'll stick to regular English, history and math thank you very much."

"Roxas is taking Honors English, aren't you Rox?" asked Pence, joining in on the conversation.

The blonde nodded, "Yeah I am, but English is the only subject I do really well in."

Hayner laughed, "Well then the two of you are just mutants."

Scowling, Olette turned away and muttered something that sounded like "Underachiever," under her breath.

Silence fell as the four friends awkwardly stood on the sidewalk, not quite meeting each other's eyes.

"I think that we should go to school," said Pence, "we don't want to be late on our first day."

The other three nodded and the group headed for the school, Olette and Pence chatting merrily, Hayner following the pair with Roxas close behind, gliding along on his skateboard.

After ten minutes of this, they arrived at the front of Central High School, freshman judging by their height, clustered around the office, picking up their schedules. Roxas grinned, trying to remember his first day of high school, but skidded to a stop, unable to remember anything.

"Hey Roxas, c'mon!" Hayner yelled at him.

Roxas shook his head clearing his thoughts and caught up with his friends, who, by now, had made their way into the center quad.

"Roxas," another voice yelled at him. He looked around and saw Mr. Highwind, the gym teacher staring at him, hands on his hips. "You better get off your board; I'd hate to have to send you to detention on the first day."

The blonde teen nodded and picked up the incriminating object. "Yes sir!" he called back before running to his friends.

They were chatting about their teachers and classes when he approached.

Why couldn't he remember his first day of high school? It wasn't that long ago and yet…

Roxas racked his brains to try and remember any other day, but he only had memories of the summer and the strange events that had occurred.

_The Photo Thief… The Clock Tower… Naminè… Axel… The Struggle Tournament… Time Freezing… The Dreams… Sora… The Mysterious Keyblade _

_It all meant something. _

"Rox are you alright?" Olette's voice pulled the teen from his troubling thoughts. She looked at him with a concerned look on his face. Behind her, Pence and Hayner wore similar expressions.

The blonde blinked, and shook his head. "Do you guys remember out first day of high school?"

Hayner snorted, brown eyes rolling in their sockets. "That's it? I was hoping that you were coming up with a plan to get Seifer before he gets us. Y'know, we have to protect our turf; he's going to want revenge because you kicked his butt in the struggle tournament this summer."

"Hayner," Olette chastised him in an annoyed tone. "Clearly something is wrong, have some heart will you?" She turned to Roxas and frowned. "Of course we remember the first day of high school."

"Yeah," Pence chimed in. "You have Hayner totally got owned by Seifer, who could forget that?"

Olette surveyed him with a concerned look on her face but before she could say anything the bell rang, signaling the start of first period. "Tell us more about it at break," she said before turning to leave.

"Yeah, and don't leave out all the details," Pence added, following Olette.

Roxas nodded and turned to go in the opposite direction, heading for math. He shuffled into the classroom and settled into a seat in the back, close to the door. The room slowly filled around him, familiar faces passed by; girls giggling with their friends, guys eyeing the groups of girls, sending each other knowing looks. The new kids, were easily identifiable, they were the ones who looked nervous, and didn't want to get in anyone else's way. In that sense they were like the freshman except they didn't know anyone.

The second bell rang and the teacher called the class to attention. He began the typical start of school lecture; class rules, expectations, important test dates, blah, blah, blah. A syllabus was passed back and Roxas took a copy from Jack and murmured a quick "thanks" before glancing over it.

He heard the door open, but didn't look up, choosing instead to doodle in the margins of his course outline. The teacher looked up from the whiteboard, ready to criticize whoever dared to interrupt his class. "Class started ten minutes ago. Tardiness isn't acceptable young man, please take a syllabus from my desk and choose an empty seat. If this behavior continues, I'll be forced to take disciplinary action."

"Yes sir," a young man's voice responded. Roxas perked up in his seat, recognizing the voice of the newcomer. It continued and Roxas strained to hear every word, hoping that his suspicions were wrong. "I'm new here and I got a little lost."

The teacher surveyed him over his glasses, "Fine, I'll let it slide this time but please don't make a habit of it."

The new kid sauntered up to the desk and Roxas returned his eyes back to his doodle, trying his hardest to not look up. This was inevitable when a throat cleared. Roxas looked up, his eyes meeting the piercing green eyes of his worst nightmare.

"Can I sit here?" Axel asked, indicating the empty desk next to the blonde.

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**So that concludes the end of Chapter 1. As I mentioned above, I still need a beta reader for this story so if you want the job, let me know. Be on the lookout for Chapter 2! **

**Much Love, **

**The Masked Butterfly **


	3. Chapter 2: Confusion

**Sorry for the extended absence, I have been swamped lately. I can make all the excuses in the world, but you probably don't want to hear it. On with the story!**

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**Chapter 2: Confusion **

It seemed like it took forever, but class finally ended. Without saying anything to his new neighbor, Roxas stood from his desk and jammed his binder into his nearly empty backpack.

Axel looked over from his own desk, watching the blonde with concern in his vivid green eyes. "Roxas," he murmured softly. "Please can we talk?"

He ignored the redhead, slinging his backpack over his shoulders, not even bothering to acknowledge that he had heard Axel speak. Roxas made his way outside and through the crowded quad, passing by several familiar faces.

"Roxas! Roxas!" a voice yelled from behind, but the blonde ignored the summons and quickened his pace toward his next class.

History, his favorite subject aside from English; the class were one could escape into the past and not worry about the troubling matters of the present. Unfortunately for Roxas, this year, he had landed the weirdest teacher on campus, Mr. Strife. It's not that he was a bad teacher, he was perfectly competent and many of his previous students had raved about their love for his class. No, Mr. Strife was known for his conspiracy theories about the past. He was under the impression that at one point, the world was taken over by the "forces of darkness" and warriors from the "realm of light" were the saviors of the universe. He was also known for being a moody and if you caught him on a bad day, you would be afraid to approach him for a while after.

People often asked Roxas if Mr. Strife was his father, not to belittle him but because—in all honesty— they looked similar. Both were blonde, their hair was spiky, both were well known for their constant pissed off attitude and compared to other males, they were on the short end of the height distribution. However, if hair and demeanor were enough to make two people related, then Olette and the Biology teacher Ms. Gainsborough would be sisters.

Grinning at this thought, Roxas took a seat in one of the empty desks and waited for the second bell to ring.

Just like in his last class, and undoubtedly the classes that followed, students filtered in to the room, girls jumping up and down when they realized they had a class with their friends, hurriedly trying to claim seats next to each other. They guys would nod to one another and make their way over to one another, high-fiving or offer the signature a "bro" hug.

A smile crossed Roxas' face when he saw Pence sidle into the room and take the unoccupied desk to Roxas' right.

"Hey man! I didn't know you were in this class," the dark haired teen said, a grin on his face.

"I didn't know we were going to have this class together," Roxas replied. "Show's how much we paid attention when comparing schedules."

The two boys grinned to each other as the tardy bell rang. The students stopped talking and turned to face the front of the room, however Mr. Strife was talking to one of the Assistant Principals, a young, silver-haired student standing beside them. As he watched, Roxas saw Mr. Strife nod and the Assistant Principal turn and leave. The two males struck up a conversation which was unheard by Roxas' ears. Mr. Strife nodded again and the young man turned to face the room; and sat down in the desk closest to the front, a pair of dark sunglasses adorning his face.

Roxas rolled his eyes as a few girls giggled around him, whispering to one another about the mysterious new kid.

"I wonder why he wears those sunglasses, he hardly needs them inside."

"Maybe doesn't want us to see his eyes."

"Maybe he doesn't have any."

"I think that—"

"That's enough," Mr. Strife said over the mutterings and whispers of the class. "I'm am Mr. Strife, you're history teacher for this school year."

After a few minutes of this, Roxas stopped listening, knowing that he would be hearing the same speech over and over again for the rest of the day. After two years of this, he knew what to expect and he was correct in thinking that nothing was going to change.

Right before the bell rang, the class was assigned their first homework assignment. They were to pick up their books if they hadn't already, and then read the first chapter. "You'll be quizzed to see if you did the reading at the beginning of the next class," called out Mr. Strife as the students bustled around packing up their bags.

Roxas left the classroom, pushing his way through the crowds of people as he made his way toward the cafeteria, Pence jogging to keep up with him. Cursing silently as a group of loud freshman boys passed him, Roxas pushed open the door and spotted Hayner and Olette sitting at their usual table in the corner. He shuffled over to them, Pence moving away toward the freezer, muttering something about Sea Salt Ice Cream. The blonde haired teen sulked over to his friends, unceremoniously tossing his backpack on the floor.

Olette looked up, concern on her face for her friend. "What's bothering you Roxas? You had that same exact look on your face before we had to go to class."

Roxas shrugged, "I dunno, I guess I haven't had the best day is all."

"Yeah, the first day can be a bit of a drag," Hayner nodded. Behind his back, Olette shot him a dirty look.

Silence fell between the three friends, the chattering of the other students fading into the background. Pence arrived a few minutes later, a popsicle in his mouth and three others in his hands, one for each of his friends. Each took the treat, Olette smiling at Pence, Hayner and Roxas muttering a quick thank you.

"So," Pence started between slurps, "how have your classes been so far?"

Both Hayner and Roxas glanced at each other, similar looks of annoyance adorning their faces as Olette began chatting merrily with Pence.

Ten minutes later, the bell rang again, and the dark hair teens bid the other two boys farewell. With a second glance at each other, the two blondes set off toward third period Art.

"So what's up with you?" Roxas asked dully while weaving in and out of the mass of students.

Hayner scowled, "I have my first two classes with Seifer," he took a deep breath then continued, "and he's my lab partner."

"Aww, I feel for you man," Roxas replied, patting his friend on his back.

"Yeah, it sucks," Hayner said as the two boys entered the classroom and sat themselves in the back row. "So what's problem?"

Roxas sighed and pulled out his notebook in a feeble attempt to distract himself, but the doodles from Math proved to do the opposite. Instead of seeing the stick figures wielding key-like weapons inked on the stark white notebook paper, he saw bright red rad hair spiked to perfection and piercing green eyes sparking mischievously.

Roxas dropped his pen, the utensil making a thud as it landed on the notebook with a dull thud.

_Hold on. _

_Bright red hair spiked to perfection._

_Where the hell did that come from?_

"Roxas… Roxas… Roxas! ROXAS!"

"Huh what?"

"Dude you zoned out on me there. So?"

He blinked at stared at Hayner with a blank expression on his face.

"C'mon man, my question. Re-mem-ber? What's buggin' you man? You seem—"

But he was interrupted by the teacher calling the class to order. With a scowl, Hayner shot him a pointed look that clearly said _we're talking about this later._

Roxas groaned.

Today was _so _not his day.

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**That be the end of Chapter 2! Sadly enough, the whole schedule thing has happened to me before. My friend and I compared what classes we had before school started, yet we were still shocked to find ourselves in the same history class, yes we're losers. **

**I also wanted to add that I think it would be best if I take some time off and write a few chapters to have on standby before posting another. That way, I'll have a few in reserve just in case (in the future) I fall behind again. I have summer vacation in a week and I should be able to write a lot more then. Please, please, please, add this story or me as an author to your alerts if you want to see more. And review! Nothing encourages me more as an author and an artist than a good, well rounded review! Yes the one word "awesome" or "cute" reviews are nice, but I **_**love**_** it when people tell me what I did well and what I could do better; it helps me improve my writing. **

**I am also still looking for a beta reader. If you want the job drop me a PM. **

**As a side note, I have another plot bunny that I would like to share; one that I will finish (I hope. I'm really excited about it, but then again I was really excited about many of the other potential stories that I never ended up doing. This one is a Final Fantasy VII fic featuring Tseng and Elena titled **_**Ask Me No Questions and I'll Tell you No Lies**_ **which of course is hypocritical because Turks are practically paid to lie. But that is a different story for another time. **

**Much Love, **

**The Masked Butterfly**


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